Improvement in the cutting apparatus of harvesters



M. "GQHUBBARD.

Harvester Cutter.

Patented June 16, 1857-.

, ample bearing.

PATENT OFFICE.

G. HUBBARD, OF PENN YAN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE CUTTING APPARATUS OF HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 17,575, dated June 16, 1857.

.To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, M. G.HUBBARD,Of Penn Yan, in the county of Yates and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cutter Attachments of Reaping and Mowing Machines; and I have herein described and ascertained said invention, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan Fig. 2, a sectional elevation.

My improvements in the attachment of the cutters, taken in connection with the general arrangement and combination of the parts with each other, are such as to attain a high degree of perfection in their construction and operation and insure greater durability of the parts.

The construction is as follows: For the finger-bar I take a bar of such length as I wish for the width of the swarthusually about five feet long and four inches wide and half an inch thickof wrought-iron,which has a groove rolled in it, about an eighth of an inch from the front edge of the said finger-bar, as shown atg in Fig. 2. This groove is about an inch in width, so that the cutter-bar will cover it and rest about an eighth of an inch beyond each edge of the groove, and thus have a long and This groove answers the purpose of a dust and air chamber under the cutter-bar, and avoids all unnecessary adhesion of the two bars together.

For the cutter-bar I take a piece of wrought iron or steelof corresponding length, and about one and a fourth inch thick, which has been rolled into the shape shown at r, Fig. 2, the rib on its back edge being for the cutters to abut against. To this cutter-bar I affix the cutters by means of screws, the heads of which are oval in their axial section, thatpass through between the cutters and screw into the cutterbar. In the heads of these bolts I form a slot, into which a common screw-driver or any thin piece of iron may be introduced to tighten or remove the screws.

Instead of passing the bolts through each cutter, Iform half of the hole and countersink in each cutter, so that by passing one bolt between them that side of each cutter will be secured, and thus by using only fourteen bolts I firmly fasteen thirteen cutters to the cutterbar, and in such a way that by removing half of the bolts--every alternate oneall of the cutters may be taken off to sharpen them, which could not readily be done were the bolt-heads not of a conical or segmental form, and the part of the cutters in contact with the same countersunk, half of the head being below the surface of the cutters, presents but little obstruction and gives a better bearing for the head.

The object of making the head convex in form is to give sufiicient material in which to make a large slot without weakening the head.

As these machines are often used by inexperienced hands, it is necessary to construct them with a view to the greatest possible convenience, especially these small parts. Therefore to facilitate the introduction of these screws into the screw-holes in the cutter-bar, I form the ends somewhat smaller or tapering, and allow this tapered end to project through the cutter-bar, so as not to diminish its hold in the cutter-bar. These projecting ends of the bolts are of course on the under side of the cutter-bar, and play in the groove 9 aforesaid in the finger-bar. The cutter may have a rib on its under side within the groove, as seen in the figure. The convex tops of the screw-heads project slightly above the cutters; but their form presents no material obstruction, and they are not in the way of the guard-fingers. By means of the groove 9 in the finger-bar the bolts which fasten on the cutters may project through and below the cutter-bar, with tapered ends, as described, and an air and dust chamber is thus formed under the cutterbar, and by means of the peculiarly-formed heads of the screws half of the head may be sunk below the cutters, as before clearly set forth, and the important object of removing the cutters by taking out but half of the screws is thereby attained, and no objectionable obstacle is presented to the free passage of the cut grass back and oil from the finger-bar.

The use of two fingers to one cutter, as shown in Fig. 1, I have found to be of great service; but as the increase in the number of fingers proportionally increased the liability to clog I overcame that difiiculty by constructing the slot with a groove in its upper side by adding this to my depressed cutter, as shown at O, Figs.1 and 2. When said cutters are attached as above described I have succeeded in producing a most efficient, convenient, and durable cutting apparatus without any material increase in its aggregate cost.

It will be seen that by my within-described modeof attaching the cutters to the cutter-bar by turning any one of the screws all the cutters can be somewhat tightened within its influence; consequentlyit is only necessary when it is apprehended that any one of the cutters is a little loose to turn down one of the screws. This result is due to the fact that when the cutters are placed on the bar and the two outer ones are made fast and the intermediate screws are properly applied each of said intermediate screws has a tendency to force the cutter on one side to the left, while that on the other side is forced to the right. This is found to be quite sufficient to compensate for any slight difi'erence in the size of the screws,

distances of the holes in the bar, 860., or in the natural wear of either screw-head or cutters.

Having thus fully described. my improvements in the cutting apparatus of harvesters, I would state that I am aware that the cutters of reaping and mowing machines have been attached to the cutter-bar by means of a single I bolt or screw to each cutter, and consequently I do not claim herein such mode of fastening; neither do I claim any such device as that patented to Wm. Hovey April 29, 1856, and from which my invention radically differs; but

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The mode of attaching the cutters C to the cutter-bar r, substantially in-the manner, by g he devices, and for the purposes above set orth.

M. G. HUBBARD.

Witnesses J. J. GREENOUGH, G. W. BROGKWAY. 

